Nov. 4, 2011
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Notre Dame will honor a pair of four-year standouts in Kristen Dealy and Frenchy Silva when the Irish face Rutgers at 1:00 p.m. (ET) on Sunday at Purcell Pavilion.
Senior Day will come just less than 24 hours before Notre Dame opens the weekend with a BIG EAST Conference volleyball tilt Saturday with Seton Hall.
Dealy and Silva, both members of Notre Dame’s 1,000-dig club, also sport the highest dig average of any two classmates in program history. Silva’s 3.49 digs/set ranks third in program history as Dealy is fifth with a 3.09 clip.
Silva is sixth all-time with 1,312 digs and Dealy is 17th with 1,126 kills and seventh with 1,222 career digs.
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Following the Irish …
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Notre Dame Fighting Irish (13-9 overall – 6-4 BIG EAST)
[und.com – bigeast.org]
Seton Hall Pirates (14-11 overall – 5-5 BIG EAST)
[shupirates.com – bigeast.org]
Saturday, Nov. 5 – 2:00 p.m. (ET)
Series history: Notre Dame leads, 17-0 (16-0 BIG EAST)
Series streak: Notre Dame, W17
First meeting: 10.29.95 – Notre Dame, 3-0
Last meeting: 11.14.10 – Notre Dame, 3-0
– Kristen Dealy’s 20 kills were enough to help Notre Dame post a 3-0 victory at Seton Hall when the teams met in 2010 … the kill total was the highest by an Irish player in a three-setter since Christina Kaelin’s 24-kill outing Sept. 26, 2006, against Bowling Green … Dealy nearly had a double-double in the first set, finishing with nine kills and 10 digs in the frame … Notre Dame and Seton Hall will meet this season for the 18th time overall, having met at least once each year since the Irish became a member of the BIG EAST Conference in 1995 … Notre Dame is 9-0 at home and 7-0 on the road in the series (with one neutral site win coming at Louisville in the 2009 BIG EAST Championship) … the Irish defeated the Pirates in the 2009 league tournament quarterfinals in the 11th Notre Dame sweep on the season … Dealy finished that match with seven kills on 17 attempts, the first match of her career without an error … Dealy added a team-high 11 digs and two aces … in the 2009 regular season meeting, Notre Dame volleyball fans received a pair of Halloween Day treats as the Irish dealt Seton Hall a 3-1 loss in the opening match of the newly renovated Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center … Dealy had 18 digs and accounted for 18.0 points with 16 kills (.483), two blocks and a service ace to open the match … head coach Debbie Brown won the 500th match of her career in Notre Dame’s 3-0 sweep at Seton Hall in 2006 … Brown became only the 28th coach in NCAA history to reach the 500-win plateau … the 1996 match saw the Irish commit just one service error, which is tied for the second-fewest ever in a match … in 1997, Notre Dame turned in its second-best hitting performance in school history, with 47 kills and just six errors on 80 attempts for a .512 percentage … the 2002 contest lasted just 1:14, making it the third-quickest affair under the 30-point scoring format … former Notre Dame libero Meg Henican had 37 digs in the 2004 match, setting an Irish record for most digs in a four-set affair.
Rutgers Scarlet Knights (8-19 overall – 1-9 BIG EAST)
[scarletknights.com – bigeast.org]
Sunday, Nov. 6 – 1:00 p.m. (ET)
Series history: Notre Dame leads, 18-0 (16-0 BIG EAST)
Series streak: Notre Dame, W18
First meeting: 9.13.86 – Notre Dame, 3-0
Last meeting: 11.13.10 – Notre Dame, 3-0
– Rutgers and Notre Dame will go to battle for the 17th consecutive season and the 19th time overall in 2010 … the Irish finished the 2010 meeting with 11 aces from five different players … the 2009 victory over the Scarlet Knights was the 100th for Notre Dame on its home floor against league opponents, moving the Irish record to 100-7 (.935) in their home confine against conference foes … the victory gave Notre Dame another feather in its cap as the Irish registered 10 or more BIG EAST regular-season wins for the 11th time since joining the league in 1995 … setting a program record for the largest margin of victory in the 25-point era, Notre Dame handed Rutgers a 3-0 (25-13, 25-16, 25-8) league setback in 2008 … the 38-point win was the largest margin of victory during the 2008 campaign for the Irish, exceeding the previous best of 32 set earlier that season against West Virginia … the teams met once prior to the Irish joining the BIG EAST in 1995, a 3-0 Notre Dame win in 1986 at the Hackerman Showcase in Houston, Texas … the Irish held Rutgers to only eight points in the contest (15-2, 15-5, 15-1) … Notre Dame and Rutgers met once in the postseason when the Irish claimed the 2000 BIG EAST Championship at the Joyce Center … in that match, Notre Dame’s Denise Boylan had 62 assists, the most ever for an Irish player in a three-set match … the lone Scarlet Knight set victory came in 1998 at the Joyce Center, when Rutgers won the third set 17-15 (after dropping the second, 15-1).
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Bump, Set, Spike …
– Less than 24 hours after an exhausting five-set defeat at Connecticut (Oct. 29), Notre Dame recovered to down host St. John’s, 3-1, … with its fourth straight win in the 19-match series with the Red Storm, Notre Dame concluded its recent road escapades that spanned 11,309 miles in the air and on the road since Oct. 8 … Notre Dame failed to convert on three straight attempts at match point while eventually falling to Connecticut, 3-2, to open the weekend … behind 14-11 in the final set, Connecticut outscored the Irish over the stretch by a 7-2 margin … senior Kristen Dealy knocked out a pair of double-doubles on the weekend to bring her season total to six.
– There was not rest for the weary when Notre Dame hit the friendly skies while traveling to No. 8 Hawaii (Oct. 17-18) only to return home for a league bout with USF (Oct. 23) … the Irish dropped both of their matches to the Rainbow Wahine while sweeping the Bulls for their fourth straight league win after beginning the conference slate with a 1-3 mark … Notre Dame hung on to deal the Rainbow Wahine their first home defeat in a set since Sept. 17, snapping their streak of 17-straight victorious frames on the island during a 3-1 loss … senior Kristen Dealy had a match-high 20 scoops during the program’s “Dig Pink” match against USF and notched a double-double (13 kills, 16 digs) during the second of two games at Hawaii … freshman Jeni Houser Notre Dame on the week with 3.10 kills/set while hitting .308 in three matches … Houser pounded Hawaii for 13 kills (.323) in the second match of a twindip on the island and recorded 12 kills (.321) against USF.
– Freshman Toni Alugbue showed no mercy on DePaul (Oct. 14) with 16 kills during a 3-1 win for Notre Dame … Alugbue hit .448 and blocked four shots to earn a spot on the BIG EAST’s Honor Roll for the second straight week.
– Notre Dame went 2-0 during its first BIG EAST roadswing with wins at Pittsburgh and West Virginia (Oct. 8-9) … paving the way for the Irish over host West Virginia was senior Kristen Dealy and her 16 kills … in fact, Dealy hit an eye-popping .533 on the day without an error in 30 attempts … Dealy also added six digs and a pair of blocks for Notre Dame, which snapped a three-match skid with the two wins … after falling behind, 3-0, in the third set against the Mountaineers, Notre Dame proceeded to go on an 18-1 jaunt to answer WVU’s opening spurt … freshman Toni Alugbue, who was named to the BIG EAST Honor Roll, had nine kills in each of the two outings while hitting at a .614 rate against the Panthers.
– The Irish dropped each of their two matches while playing host to Cincinnati and Louisville (Oct. 1-2) … with its league record at 1-3, Notre Dame fell under the .500 mark for the first time since joining the BIG EAST in 1995 (save for a loss to start BIG EAST play at Pittsburgh in 2007) … three of the four sets in the match against Cincinnati were decided by three or fewer points, with Notre Dame having set-point in the first two frames before Cincinnati went on a pair of 3-0 runs to win each stanza … senior Kristen Dealy had 11 kills (.257) and 14 digs with sophomore Sammie Brown adding 35 assists and 14 digs against the Bearcats … no one covered as much ground as senior Frenchy Silva in that contest, who was good for a game-high 24 scoops for her second straight 20+ dig performance … sophomore Andrea McHugh led the Irish with 17 kills and freshman Jeni Houser posted 13 more (.333) with four blocks.
– Notre Dame went 1-1 with a loss to Villanova after sweeping Georgetown to open BIG EAST play (Sept. 24-25) … junior Hilary Eppink posted a team-high 10 kills on a .556 clip against the Hoyas … Eppink did not commit an error on 18 swings … Notre Dame stumbled out of the gate and never fully recovered against Villanova … hitting .094 with 11 service errors, Notre Dame fell to the Wildcats, 3-1, during the nationally televised contest on ESPNU with 1,337 fans on hand to watch at Purcell Pavilion … the two teams combined for 23 service errors and Notre Dame failed to record an ace for the first time since facing Northern Iowa on Nov. 7, 2010 … senior Kristen Dealy (25) and Frenchy Silva (22) each eclipsed the 20-dig plateau.
– One day after redeeming a 2010 loss to Western Michigan, Notre Dame swept host Wisconsin to claim the team title at the InnTowner Invitational … senior Kristen Dealy earned MVP honors with senior Frenchy Silva and junior Hilary Eppink earning all-tournament nods … the win on Wisconsin’s home floor was the first ever for the Irish, also giving Notre Dame its first back-to-back wins over the Badgers in the history of the 10-match series.
– Senior Kristen Dealy earned MVP honors at the InnTowner Invite after a strong showing across the board with 3.00 kills/set, 4.29 digs/set and 3.57 points/set.
– Notre Dame’s 1,000-1,000 club inducted a new member in senior Kristen Dealy during a Sept. 16 match against Western Michigan … now with more than 1,000 career kills and 1,000 digs, Dealy is the eighth Irish player ever to join the club and the first since Adrianna Stasiuk did so in 2007.
– Notre Dame is 15-1 all-time in BIG EAST regular-season openers, with the lone loss coming at Pittsburgh to begin the 2007 league slate … all said and done, the Irish are 172-25 (.873) in regular-season play since joining the BIG EAST, including a home record of 95-8 (.922).
– Freshman Jeni Houser was named MVP of the Golden Dome Invitational after leading all players at the four-team event in hitting (.348), kills/set (3.82) and points/set (4.36) … Houser matched a career-high with 19 kills against Portland (Sept. 10) as Notre Dame went 2-1 on the weekend.
– Freshman Toni Alugbue and sophomore Andrea McHugh were named to the Golden Dome Invitational all-tournament team … Alugbue averaged 1.36 blocks/set on the weekend and McHugh shelved a pair of double-doubles and dropped four aces on Portland (Sept. 10).
– A highly efficient and balanced offensive output from Notre Dame helped produce a 3-0 win over visiting Lipscomb (Sept. 9) as the Irish hit .549 as a squad, committing just two errors on 91 swings with 52 kills … with the effort from above the net, Notre Dame set a program record for hitting pct. in a three-set match … the previous best (.539) was set against Marquette in 1986 … it was also the first time the Irish hit over .500 in a contest since a 3-0 win versus DePaul in 2005 … even more, Notre Dame’s side-out pct. on the evening was .840, which included a 12-for-12 effort in the first set.
– Sophomore Sammie Brown became the 11th player in Notre Dame history to record at least 1,000 assists in a career, doing so with a 32-assist effort against Portland (Sept. 10).
– Notre Dame dropped each of its two matches at the Stanford Invitational (Sept. 2-3), falling to both the host Cardinal and St. Mary’s (Calif.).
– Freshman Jeni Houser pounded No. 6 Stanford for a team- and career-high 19 kills … the slugger averaged 3.57 kills/set in the two matches on the West Coast to earn a spot on the Stanford Invitational All-Tournament team.
– Notre Dame opened the season with three wins at the Shamrock Invitational (Aug. 26-28) for its best start to a campaign since 2006 … Notre Dame dropped the second set in each of its 3-1 wins over Eastern Michigan, Idaho and Butler … the victory over Butler was the program’s 300th home win … Notre Dame is 302-95 (.760) all-time on its home floor.
– Senior Frenchy Silva, junior Hilary Eppink and sophomore Andrea McHugh were each named to the Shamrock Invitational All-Tournament team … in fact, McHugh was named the tournament’s MVP one day prior to shelving Player of the Week honors from the BIG EAST Conference … McHugh led the Irish with 58 kills in three tournament matches and posted a career-best 25 kills to go along with 13 digs against Idaho … McHugh averaged 4.83 kills and 3.92 digs/set while recording double-digit kills in all three weekend matches.
– A 22-dig performance against Butler (Aug. 28) put senior Frenchy Silva over the 1,000-mark for her career … what’s more, Silva’s 3.36 digs/set average is fourth all-time, and senior Kristen Dealy’s 3.06 digs/set clip ranks fifth … that makes the duo the only classmates ever to rank among the top 10 in digs/set.
– With an Aug. 26 win over Eastern Michigan to begin the 2011 campaign, Notre Dame is 25-7 (20-1 under head coach Debbie Brown) in home openers.
– Notre Dame was picked to finish second in league play according to the BIG EAST Preseason Coaches Poll … the Irish received one first-place vote.
– Co-captains for the 2011 season are seniors Kristen Dealy and Frenchy Silva.
– Senior Kristen Dealy was a preseason all-BIG EAST choice along with sophomore Andrea McHugh.
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